ObviouslyRavenclaw: Hi there! Garth is safe, I have a good idea of how to lead him to a happier life. DJ would definitely like what I have planned. The thing between Thalia and Harry... I never planned to make have them end up together. Originally, Harry and Ginny was endgame, but I grew disillusioned with that pair. JKR barely gave us anything substantial between them. Nothing wrong with it, but I decided to go a different way and introduce (or rather, reintroduce) someone into Harry's life! You'll meet him in this chapter!
Also... interesting guess. But Harry's not a rodent. I'll reveal his Animagus form somewhere in the next few chapters probably. Owls are oppurtunistic feeders. Hedwig is a specially larger owl and the land around the mansion falls under her hunting grounds. Anything alive and small enough for her to attempt to carry in her claws can be deemed prey.
brade1991: I did bring up the topic of sex, but I won't be writing any explicit scenes. The most I'll add is a make-out sequence, but that's about it. It feels off to write about teenagers doing the do when I'm no longer one. If I ever imply that these kids are fooling around, I'll try to be classy about it or just avoid it altogether. I generally put more effort into action scenes, which is what you'll be getting loads of in chapters 27 and 28!
Starhunter18: Thank you! I have a full time job though, so it gets difficult to spare time to write. I think I've gotten over the writer's block that stopped me over the past few months, so here we are.
There are multiple sections to this chapter and they all converge into the next chapter. So, I've given date and timestamps along with location cues. The times are based on the time zone of that area. Also, this story is currently set in November, 2013. I'd mentioned it was December in chapter 26. I've fixed that.
Frost is the mansion Harry, Sirius, and Remus live in. It's in Gretna Green, Scotland, 5 hours ahead of New York and CHB.
US East Coast is 3 hours ahead of Camp Jupiter (West Coast) and the Grand Canyon.
Warnings: Teenagers in danger, canon-typical violence (yes, it's an Ao3 tag, I've started checking that website out.)
Listening to - Timber by Pitbull
12th November, 2013
10:30 am, Grand Canyon National Park
If Leo had a quarter for every time a teacher burst into tears because of him, he'd have a whole dollar.
And that's because Coach Hedge's eyes were a little misty.
"Valdez," the coach growled. "What did you do?"
The restaurant parking lot they were standing in was slightly smoking (because Leo had tinkered with Coach's megaphone and it had short circuited, letting out a plume of grey smoke. He'd dumped the megaphone in a ditch and retrieved a spare one from the locker room to replace it before anyone found out.)
"Nothing!" Leo said cheerfully. "Honest, Coach! I was with Piper the whole time!"
The smoke tickled Coach Hedge and he let out a sneeze. Leo jumped at the ferocity of it. Seriously, the guy that small had far too much lung capacity.
"On the bus!" He snarled. "Now!"
Leo saluted. "Sir, yes sir!"
The Wilderness School was everything Leo Valdez had expected. Stuffed with kids who'd flunked from fancy prep schools, kids who got kicked out for illicit substances and bartering, kids who came from reputable halfway houses (which Leo didn't think was even possible).
At least, this school wasn't so bad. He'd made a friend and she was nice enough to overlook is many, many faults and simply share her food with him. Everything else sucked.
The bus with thirty kids was gearing up to head on to Grand Canyon. Leo had never been allowed on school-sponsored trips before, so this would be new. He walked the aisle, pretending to carry flowers for the younger kids to snigger.
Piper was at the back, leaning an elbow against the window and trying to ignore the resident flirt, Dylan, who was in the seat in front of her, displaying his pearly white teeth.
"Back up, hotshot," Leo crowed as he fell into the seat next to Piper. "I've reserved the status as the most annoying prick on this bus. You can hitch a ride on the next one if you're so desperate."
"Valdez," Dylan glowered. "Seriously, Piper. Why d'you hang out with him?"
"Because he's not you," Piper said flatly. Leo winced at her tone. She still wasn't over the fact that her dad had forgotten her birthday a couple of days ago.
"You hear that, Valdez?" Dylan said, smug. "Your presence is defined by my existence and nothing more."
Leo scoffed. "You're adorable, Dillie. Why don't you go and exist on the roof of the bus? Let's see if I vanish when you fall off."
"You know what—" Dylan began, standing to his full height to tower over the fifteen-year-olds.
"Go away, Dylan!" Piper glared at him.
All at once, Dylan's body snapped to attention. He shook his head like trying to dislodge a fly before saying, "You're good, McLean. But I'll be back."
He left them and Leo slouched in his seat. Piper was scary good at that. He'd played Simon Says with her once and would never do that again.
"Sorry," she said, noticing his subdued posture. "But he was getting on my nerves."
"I'll forgive you this time," Leo quipped. "But you owe me your firstborn the next time you protect me from Desperate Dylan."
Piper snorted, her face breaking into a smile and Leo felt pleased. Their bus was on its way up to the national park and Leo wondered if the people there allowed bungee jumping. He asked Piper and she said, "I seriously hope so. Someone needs to tie us all to ropes and toss us off the canyon."
"Character building," he nodded solemnly.
Unfortunately, Leo wasn't tied to ropes when he was tossed off the canyon. He was quite ropeless. Not to mention, he was on the glass bridge when Dylan transformed into a swirling vortex of wind and punted him off the bridge.
Leo felt airborne for one measly second before crashing into a solid wooden and metal chariot.
Strike 'fortune-teller' off of Piper's list of funky tricks.
Leo cleared his throat for optimal larynx usage before screaming bloody murder the Dylan cyclone grew larger, spinning violent grey clouds into the air.
"You're okay!" A blond boy yelled. He was perched on the chariot beside Leo, clutching the reins tight.
"Are we… in mid-air?!" Leo shouted.
"Yes, and it's alright!"
"How is it alright?! We're falling to our doom!"
"We're not falling, we're flying," the dude explained, not worrying enough about their situation.
Or were they falling with style? Leo held onto the railing of the chariot to stand up on shivering legs. The scene before him is indescribable.
There's a girl with curly blond hair, whipping around a knife to attack one of the smaller vortex demon thingies. Despite the fact that the glass bridge had cracks, she was still fearless, slicing the wind faces to ribbons. Her blade made the air hiss as though it burned the monster.
Another girl, a brunette, had a long sword out. She rolled to avoid a fist full of compressed air, got to her feet and stabbed the Dylan vertex in his cyclonic face.
It didn't take down the cyclone, but her sword shimmered, burning the dark air around it. Dylan let out a shriek of pain as she yanked her sword back. He dived away from the bridge still yowling and Leo's breath caught in his chest.
The brunette was tall, with a severely pretty face that was splattered with gold fluid. Her dark eyes glittered as she caught Leo's gaze and he knew that she could slice her sword at him and kill him in one go. Red and pink hearts fluttered over her warrior persona. She walked towards him in slow motion, all beauty and grace, ready to murder him, and Leo would have wholeheartedly let her.
"Where's Hazel?" The girl asked, popping Leo's hazy daydream of dying at sword point.
The blond boy landed the heavy chariot on the glass bridge, apparently not bothered if it would break. Leo looked to the front, jaw dropping at the sight of horses.
Not just horses. These animals had large wings, each one bigger than his scrawny self.
"She found the other demigod," the blonde said. "Got mixed up in the crowd, but the girl came running for this one."
He nodded over to Leo.
"What the hell?" Leo finally burst out. "Why was the cyclone attacking us?! Why do you have swords? Why am I in a chariot? And what the hell is that?"
That was the Dylan vortex merging with three smaller cyclones. Winds picked up, whistling sharply. The glass bridge shivered.
The killer brunette swore before raising her voice. "Chase!"
"Coming!" The blonde girl called back, kicking a pile of garlands into one of the cyclones. The swirling mass ripped it apart and she booked it back to the chariot.
"Where's your guide?" she demanded. Leo gawked at her. Her eyes were silver. How?
"He's in shock," the boy said. "Maybe the Mist is still shielding something from him."
There was a shriek from below as the crowds scattered. The massive cyclone rose into the air, a gaseous face appearing at the top. Leo felt sick. It was Dylan.
"Well, well, well, well, well!" the Dylan super-vortex roared with joy.
"Deep well," Leo whispered, sinking back down.
"Who sent you?" the killer brunette shouted.
"The Earth Goddess knew you'd be here," Dylan said, his voice amplified all through the sky. "She sent me to pass on her regards!"
"She's gonna have to refund that," the blond boy muttered, switching something in the chariot's panel.
The girls hopped into the chariot and the pegasi soared into the dangerous air.
"What are you doing?" Leo yelled.
"We need to find Hazel," the killer brunette explained, he eyes searching the crowds of people who were screaming and running away from the cyclone. The building shook and the glass bridge cracked.
"Of all the time for Jason to not be here," she shook her head before observing the panel. "What can this thing do?"
"Turbo jet, quiver space, arrow launcher, cup holder, metal net, a Greek fire rocket—"
"I thought Percy took that?" the blond girl asked, sharply.
"He missed the back-up rocket."
"Oi Theoi—"
The cyclone lashed out. A fist of wind power smacked them out of the sky and everything dismantled. Leo and the three strange kids were tossed out of the chariot.
He didn't die though. None of them did. They weren't immortal or anything (be serious now). But the horses with wings caught them all mid-fall.
(He's being serious).
No really. The flying horses swooped down, caught each of them and set them on the shaking roof of the visitor's building. Leo tumbled off of the black pegasus that had saved him.
"The net!" Chase was screaming. "Get the net and power it up!"
"Leo!"
He swivelled in the spot, urgently searching for Piper. He couldn't see her at first, but the fire escape ladder was shaking as though someone was rattling it from below. Leo got to his feet and rushed over.
Instead of Piper, he got a full view of Coach Hedge, holding on to the ladder and waving his baseball bat at the cyclone.
"Detention!" he roared. "How dare you mess up this field trip?! We went way over the budget!"
"Coach!" Piper yelled from below. "Get going!"
Leo grabbed onto Coach's hand and tugged him over the wall. Piper climbed up after, panting heavily and sporting a sharp cut along her arm.
Behind her was another girl. This one was smaller, even younger than the others. Her afro was wild in the wind and she held an incredible gold sword, shining even under the clouds.
She looked up, her expression going south. "Sammy?"
Leo stared back. Her eyes were gold. Real gold. "God?"
"This is Hazel," Piper said, breathing heavily. "She freakin' saved my life!"
Hazel looked abashed. "Yeah… you punched Dylan in the face though. That was amazing."
Piper preened. Leo wondered how it felt being complimented by a kid.
"Take cover!" the killer brunette shouted from the other side of the roof.
Hazel pushed Piper down onto the ground, but Coach Hedge stood up, proud. "I ain't taking no cov—"
Leo tackled him to the floor. Chase, the killer brunette, and the blond boy launched a cloth bundle into the immense cyclone. As Leo watched, it burst out into a net, twisting around and growing in size until the Dylan super-vortex swallowed it whole, laughing.
"Stupid heroes!" he crowed. "You can't just—"
A sharp and high-pitch noise exploded from inside the cyclone. Dylan's face contorted in pain and he panicked.
"What did you do?!"
High arcs of electricity shot out from within the core. The net must have been electrified. Leo didn't dare watch what happened next, because the cyclone did not like electricity. Dylan wailed in pain as the lightning ripped through him, breaking the brewing storm and sending the individual vortexes screaming down into the canyon.
The coach groaned. "Alright, cupcake. You can get your hugs later."
Leo let go of him. "You're crazy, coach. The weather just tried to kill us, bee-tee-dubs."
Piper sat up, touching her bleeding arm. "Dylan was the weather."
"And you punched the weather," Leo added.
Across the roof, Chase stood up first. She checked the others before leaping onto the chariot. It creaked ominously.
"Urgh," the blond boy said. "Clarisse is gonna kill me."
"She integrated Maimer's power supply in the chariot," Chase said, reading something on the panel. "Let's sing her praises, she might not kill us then."
The killer brunette stood up and looked over to Hazel. "Everything okay?"
"Yes, Praetor!" Hazel responded, quickly standing up. "Both demigods and their guide are safe and ready for transport."
Piper did a double-take. "Demigod? What're you talking about?"
The killer brunette frowned but didn't answer. "Chase, how long to fix the chariot?"
"The launcher got damaged, it wasn't meant to be charged with electricity," the blonde sighed. "But the base is re-attachable. Give us ten minutes."
The brunette nodded. "Hazel, give them a rundown of camp and the gods. You have ten minutes."
Coach Hedge spluttered, "Excuse you! I'm their guide to camp! I'll do my job, thanks!"
He turned and faced Piper and Leo. "Your parents are Greek gods. Your mortal enemies are immortal monsters. You're both screwed."
The blond boy glared. "Hedge, come on!"
"What? We're running on a deadline!"
Leo stared. "Um… I understood none of that."
"You prefer Greek?" Hedge asked, totally serious.
"No habla Greek."
Coach smirked. "Actually, you can speak Ancient Greek."
Leo blinked. Wait a sec… that wasn't Spanish or English. How did he know it, though? Piper gasped.
"You…" she stepped back, her shoulder knocking against Leo's. "I understood that. How did you say that?"
She clutched her bleeding arm. Drops of blood oozed from the side and Leo's head reeled. Hazel saw the wound and called, "Medic!"
The blond boy's head snapped up. "Oh, shit. Um, Annabeth—"
"Go," Chase, wait, Annabeth said. "Reyna, hold this bar for me."
They exchanged spots and Leo was just standing on the roof of the visitor's building. Debris from the cyclone was strewn about. He saw a half-crushed license plate, a bent billboard, and mounds of dirt from the ground covering the roof.
"Hold on to this," the medic told Piper, handing over a hot pink card. She took it, completely baffled and stared at it. Leo didn't understand, but he saw her shoulders release their tension, slumping down. Piper sighed, relaxing as the card worked its magic over her.
His head still throbbed from everything that happened. Leo went over to the side to look at the Grand Canyon which stretched all the way from one side down to the south.
The winds were picking up again.
"Um," Leo said loudly to get everyone's attention. "When you said immortal monsters… you were joking, right?"
"Yes, of course," Coach said, waving his bat around. "We're the best improv show in the business."
"Your name's Leo?" Annabeth asked, her stormy eyes piercing through him. He swallowed heavily and nodded.
"Yessir! I mean ma'am! I mean… I believe you."
Coach said, "Ha! My explanation worked!"
Leo pointed at the canyon. "No, it's just that Dylan and the evil weather is reforming."
"What?" Annabeth snapped. The killer brunette, (Reyna's her name, and Leo would never forget it) stood up and went to the edge to see what Leo was pointing at.
"He's right," she muttered, a deep frown etched in her face. "The electricity should have curbed him for a few months at the very least. Venti don't react well to anything blessed by Lord Jupiter or Mars."
Leo stared at the canyon where the vortex was gathering speed. Coach was right twice. They were screwed.
12th November, 2013
1:30 pm, Manhattan
Percy was drowning.
He was submerged under dark waters unable to breathe. This had never happened to him before. What a way to start a dream.
I had to get your attention.
What? He held his breath and looked around in the water. Someone had spoken to him but he couldn't find them.
The colours changed and he was standing in a room full of mailing boxes on conveyor belts. Percy recognized this. He was in a packaging room of Olympus Parcel Service.
There was a boy beside him. He was exactly Percy's height, maybe the same age, sporting a torn jacket and ripped pants. Percy figured he wasn't wearing it for the style.
They were standing in front of one of the conveyor belts. Percy knew something was wrong when he saw that nothing was moving. All the packages and mail had frozen, the machines frozen. The box right in front of them had a message stamped in red: RtΩ.
He remembered that was one of the flight options for the camp chariot.
"Can you hear me?" the boy said anxiously, distracting him.
Percy frowned. "Have we met?"
"No! I mean… we've been in the same house once, but we never met… Look, I just had a dream and I needed to talk to you."
This wasn't making sense. This boy was an actual person dreaming about him.
"Wait," Percy said slowly, looking around the too-bright room again. "Who's dreaming? You or me?"
"You are," the boy said. "Hi, I'm Sky. You're barging into my headspace actually."
"What?" he demanded. Sky? Why was that name familiar?
"I told you!" Sky said impatiently. "I needed to talk to someone! I thought you'd be the easiest person to dream share, but something was stopping me. I'm guessing it was Harry. So I let you come into my head."
Percy stepped back. He was trying to look at Sky, really look at him. For some reason, he couldn't get a good view of his face, even standing just a few feet away. The guy had eyes, nose and a mouth, all the human features, but there was nothing Percy could say to describe him.
"You're shielding your face," Percy whispered. "What… who are you? How d'you know me? How d'you know Harry?!"
Sky groaned. "There's so much to explain, but I don't have the time. I need you to wake up and go to Olympus!"
"Excuse me?"
The dream shuddered, coming apart at the seams. Sky's body began to dissolve.
"Shit!" he swore. "Lis… me!"
"I can't hear you, what are you saying?"
"Oly… go to… pus."
"Pus," Percy repeated. "Why should I go to Olympus?"
"... alert… lockdown!" Sky was yelling as he disappeared completely. The entire hall of boxes with OPS decals disappeared, leaving Percy in dark water again.
He woke up with a pounding headache and an aching arm.
Percy had slept badly the previous night as well. Annabeth had left the day before that and he could do nothing but fret.
But this was alarming. Some rando (obviously a demigod, looking like he'd gotten into a fight with a manticore) had pulled Percy into his head and urged him to go to Olympus. It didn't exactly scream like a trap, but Percy wasn't going to rule it out.
He got out of bed, scratching at the skin of his left arm. As he IMed Thalia ready to tell her what he knew, Sally ran into him in the hallway.
"Mom?" Percy asked, confused. "You're supposed to be at work."
"Yes," Sally said, brushing loose hairs out of her face. "And you're supposed to be at school, but here we both are."
He tried not to openly sigh. His mom had been nudging him and Nico to go back to Goode. But after the year Percy had had, he wasn't going to even try.
"I need to go to Camp," he said instead, now feeling an insistent burn along the length of his arm. "Had a weird dream."
Sally's annoyance vanished and she looked worried. "A bad one?"
"It sounded like it. This guy named Sky told me to go to Olympus."
Alert-lockdown. Those had been the last words dream!Sky had said. It wasn't a good pair of words. But seriously, how can Olympus be on lockdown?
The IM wasn't going through and Percy reached for his two-way mirror.
"Sky?" Sally mused. "I thought that was a girl's name."
"Maybe it's short for something," he pointed out.
"Yeah. Or maybe it's unisex," she said. "Like yours."
Percy shot her a look. "Perseus is unisex?"
"Any name can be unisex."
"But it's not what you'd have named me if I was a girl, right?"
She smiled. "No. Probably would have called you Harry."
"Mom."
"It's a good name!"
Percy shook his head, waiting for Thalia's face to show up in the mirror.
His reflection changed, but instead of her, Clarisse appeared on the other side. There was a ruckus going on behind her in the mess area. Camp Half-Blood did not seem sweet or frolicky this fine Tuesday.
"What's wrong?" Percy asked, frowning. His mom peered in.
"We don't know," Clarisse said, frustrated. She was marching across the arena, heading for the Big House. "We'd just finished lunch hour, when Mr. D was called away. And then we started getting collective migraines."
Percy frowned. Sally looked confused too. "What d'you mean collective? Like, everyone got headaches at the same time?"
"Feels like it!" Clarisse groaned. "But Will's still on his quest and Kayla and Harry are in Connecticut to get some medical supplies. Clovis went right to sleep and began mumbling about his dad. So, I called Camp Jupiter and guess what?"
Percy swallowed. "Same thing with the Romans?"
"Yup," Clarisse was on the porch now, searching for Chiron. "The barrier around the camp got weak. We can feel the winter winds. If the weather can get through the wards, so can something else."
Sally looked at her son. "How's your head?"
"It was hurting, but that's because of my dream I think," Percy said quietly, before raising his voice. "Station people at all known entry points around camp. Ask the dryads to keep a look out for labyrinth access points. Nothing goes in or out without your or Chiron's permission. Thalia will take over when she's better."
Percy stomped into his room to search for a clean t-shirt. Everyone getting migraines around the same time… Clovis sleeptalking… the guy was a very deep sleeper. He never talked.
What if someone was trying to reach them? What if this strange person named Sky was trying to communicate? Percy held his warm arm tight, trying to ease away the pain around the bracelet.
Clarisse swore. "Malcolm and Rachel aren't picking up their phones. And Rachel's mirror is switched off."
Percy groaned, scratching at his arm again. "What about Annabeth? Has she called back?"
"I didn't try her yet."
Sally was looking into the room, following the conversation carefully. "Percy?"
"Wait a sec, mom," Percy said, propping the mirror on the window and searching his closet. "Reese, get someone to send a message to Annabeth and Will. Or get in contact with Camp Jupiter so Reyna and Hazel also know that something's up. Send out a scout to tell Harry and Kayla to drop everything and get back to camp."
"Percy!" Sally hissed. "Your dream!"
"My… Clarisse, you think Clovis might be dreaming?" Percy asked, switching tactics.
"Yeah, that's what we figured," she confirmed.
"Maybe something is happening on Olympus," he whispered. But a lockdown? That didn't feel real.
"Olympus? No, I said something's happening at both camps," Clarisse said.
"Percy," Sally said with a frown, "Aren't Rachel and Malcolm up there?"
Percy paused. He'd forgotten that the two were subbing for Annabeth today. This didn't feel good.
His arm began to burn.
12th November, 2013
11:00 am, Grand Canyon National Park
Piper kept looking at the card. It was a thick slip of paper, flashy hot pink and shiny. About the size of a credit card, it had no black bar on the back, but the words on it read,
KEEP CALM. YOU'RE A BOSS.
It was handwritten, black sparkling ink over the sharp colour. The soothing, slanting symbols eased her. The card smelled of strawberries and pine, gently sending whispers of tranquility, stamping down her confusion and panic.
And there had been panic at first because the words were not in English or Cherokee language, or even some French dialects (which Piper had shockingly discovered that she could understand at the age of 4).
So what was this new language that she could suddenly read?
Piper held the card in her hand, letting its good vibes calm her. Then she looked over the brewing cyclone, letting its bad vibes startle her. It was reforming, just like Leo had said.
Immortal monsters. Demigods. Gods.
They were all demigods. And Will, the boy who had healed her arm with a muttered chant (like magic), had said that she and Leo had Olympian parents. Actual Olympian gods were their parents.
Piper never expected to be Greek by heritage. Her dad had kept the truth of her mother a secret, mostly because it hadn't been a long term relationship.
Well, at least Leo was with her. Had she been alone in this, she would have definitely freaked out.
Right now, Leo was helping Annabeth fix the magical chariot while simultaneously making unsubtle heart-eyes at Reyna. Hazel and Will were standing off to the side, looking through the weapon options on the chariot.
The Pegasi (that's what Annabeth had called the flying horses), pawed at the ground nervously. Piper had never really been a fan of horses, but she could sense the nervousness of these creatures now and wondered if there was any hay around to calm them.
Clouds were gathering above them now. Piper and Hazel backed away from the edge and Will groaned. "We're out of time!"
"And out of parts!" Leo complained. "Who's the wise guy who took out the rockets?"
Annabeth blew a curl out of her face. "This will have to do! Everyone climb on!"
It was a tight fit, especially with Coach still waving his bat at the wind. Piper stood close to Leo and Hazel, still watching the rising cyclone. Dylan's face was rebuilding, a hazy concoction of the human boy he'd been portraying and the powerful features of an immortal - the wind personified.
The air around them rippled and Annabeth flicked a switch. The pegasi, now harnessed back to the chariot, rose into the air, pulling all seven of them up. They hovered above the cyclone as Annabeth took the reins to direct them east.
Hazel let out a squeak and held on tight to Leo's arm. Piper thought she didn't look so good, but Coach Hedge took the exact moment to yell, "Back away, you braggart!"
"Hedge!" Annabeth yelled. "Stop signalling our position!"
"I'm telling them where not to go!"
It didn't matter because the cyclone was growing bigger again, twisting towards them. The Pegasi neighed, their giant wings creating gusts of their own. Piper's grip on the sides of the chariot did not abate. Her hair whipped around her face, scrunchie blowing away. The wind tasted of dirt and she had to shield her eyes to even keep them open.
"They shouldn't have reformed this quickly!" Reyna shouted over the roar of the winds.
"No time to argue," Will grunted, kneeling down to check their arsenal. "We can fire a rocket at them and use the turbo jet to escape."
"That thing will toss the rocket back to us," Leo mentioned. Piper agreed and Hazel groaned in pain. They were a hundred feet from the ground, trying to fly away from a cyclone. Mark the day as the most ridiculous thing in Piper's short life.
"We can't escape in the air," she yelled. "We have to be on the ground!"
"Shit!" Annabeth cursed. "There's nowhere to hide."
"Eat dirt you pile of noxious fumes!" Coach roared. "Couldn't even do twenty sit-ups in gym, you're gonna try and swallow all of us?"
Leo's eyes lit up. Piper snapped. "No!"
"What? I didn't say anything."
"You're thinking something dangerous and stupid."
"What is it?" Reyna asked, face contorted as the chariot began to shudder in the winds. They had flown far away enough from the canyon, but the cyclone was catching up.
Leo was mesmerized by Reyna's full attention on him. Piper punched his arm.
"Ow! Thanks."
"What's the plan?" Will repeated, growing pale at the gigantic size of the vortex above them.
"Gas!" Leo said, full of mirth. "This chariot's gotta have some gas power, right? We can shoot the fumes at the vortex and launch the rocket at it."
Everyone on the chariot fell silent even as the winds roared around them.
"You want to explode a cyclone?" Will droned.
"With Greek Fire?" Annabeth confirmed.
"While we're in range of the blast?" Reyna grumbled.
"Excellent!" Coach Hedge shouted. "Light it up!"
"No, not excellent! That's stupid," Piper protested.
Leo mused at the various buttons on the chariot panel. Piper saw him eyeing the Greek Fire launcher, empty net pod, and a blue button simply labelled RtΩ.
That last symbol was a Greek letter and she could read it.
"We can use gas from the turbo jet," Will suggested, breaking her train of thought. "But we'll need to put some distance between us and the grande-vortex."
"Venti," Reyna corrected him. "My shield won't cover all of us."
"Then we go down in flames!"
"Coach, you're really not helping."
The cyclone's face churned but it wasn't Dylan staring down at them. It had a terrible and twisted look, its supernatural features changing constantly. Piper felt sick because she knew exactly what her eyes were seeing but her brain was taking too long to comprehend it.
"It's not Dylan," she whispered. "Something else is watching us."
No one heard her over the ruckus. Annabeth was leaning over to talk to one of the pegasi which neighed back, sounding frightened.
"Alright," she called back. "The pegasi can take two people at a time. We go with Leo's plan, ditch the chariot, and hightail it out."
Will groaned. "Clarisse is definitely gonna murder us."
They began expelling the turbo jet's canister onto the vortex which swallowed the fumes. Leo brought out the rocket, ready for use. Piper was frozen. She couldn't look directly at the massive, ancient face.
Then, the mouth of the cyclone opened and it spoke, "You would attack me, heroes? You dare challenge me?"
The voice was thunderous. Piper screamed, clapping her hands over her ears. Hazel and Will dropped to the floor of the chariot, clutching their heads in pain. Reyna gasped and nearly fell over, but Coach managed to catch her in time.
Annabeth somehow managed to hold on to the reins as the pegasi went mad, kicking in the air. The cyclone grew larger and angrier as the jet's gas moved about.
And Leo dropped the rocket.
It hurtled to the earth, and Piper watched in horror as the metal tube shattered against the rocks, releasing a spray of green liquid. The crash created sparks and the atmosphere began to burn.
In a flash, the entire ground shook, flames raging up towards the cyclone. The face, her face, screamed in fury and glee.
Glee?
"No," Hazel whispered in pure fear. Her voice shook. "It's her! It's her! Reyna!"
"We need to go!" Reyna screamed. "Climb on the pegasi!"
The wind was on fire. The atmosphere above them was in flames. Heat seared Piper and she ducked to the side, narrowly avoiding the orange flames.
"No time!" Annabeth screamed. "Everyone hold on!"
Piper grabbed Leo's hand and held one of the chariot's bars. She saw Annabeth slam a palm on the blue button marked RtΩ.
They went lightspeed.
The world turned into a dark tunnel and Piper couldn't even hear herself shrieking. The noise around them was indecipherable. They weren't just travelling, something across the country was sucking them towards it with the strength of a blackhole. They were crossing hundreds of miles in seconds.
The chariot was shuddering, cracks appearing along the metal and wooden panelling. The wheels rattled loudly threatening to break off. Leo's grip in her hand was warm and sweaty and Piper curled towards him, wondering what was happening to her life.
Everything had changed.
12th November, 2013
2:00 pm, Olympus Postal Service, Queens
Harry rotated his left arm. It felt uncomfortably warm. It was either the bracelet or the god standing in front of him that set him on edge.
Hermes was in a polo t-shirt and board shorts. He had an iPad hovering in front of him, as he read out the list of packages Kayla and Harry were supposed to be picking up.
"Nectar batches, paracetamol, tylenol, ace bandages, HRT packs, syringes, thermometers, 10 first-aid kits, 6 crates of cotton..." Hermes blinked. "You're running up the bill just because of the cotton, is the list right?"
"My brother, Will Solace, wrote it up, Lord Hermes," Kayla said. "He never goes wrong with cotton."
"Ah… well, the cotton's not in the usual shipment, but I have Iris sending down bales of hay. She might have picked up the cotton too," Hermes checked the list and the iPad disappeared. "Check the shipping room, you'll have your stuff. Payment up front."
Kayla eagerly slipped her backpack from her shoulders and began rifling through it for the drachmas. She told Harry. "You can pick up the packages and meet me at the desk in the front."
"Yes, boss," Harry said, because it was fun to see Kayla radiate at the title.
Hermes looked curious. "Aren't you a little young to be running a business?"
"Yes," Kayla said, eyes glimmering. "Yes, I am."
Harry left her to puzzle the god (she was doing a good job of it) and he stepped into a room with pink wallpaper and rainbow hearts stamped all over the place.
Butch would love to see this.
Lady Iris had a separate room in all OPS stations for her messaging system. Harry almost expected an operator sitting in front of a switchboard personally connecting gods and demigods for proper Iris Messaging video chats.
Instead, all he saw was a bloke in muddy clothing ripped in places, standing beside the boxes of packed cotton.
It couldn't be a god, right? None of them would appear so disheveled. Unless they were in disguise, testing mortals. Harry stepped around him to cast a hover charm over the boxes. The boy jumped, turning to stare at him.
"Oh thank gods," he exclaimed and threw his arms around Harry.
He smelled like he'd rolled in mud and ended up in the ocean. The stench was mild, several days old, but that wasn't what shocked Harry. Would a god hug him like this? Was he allowed to throw him off and attack him?
"Okay, look," the boy said, pulling back. "We need to get a message to Olympus. Or at least one of the gods. Can you call Camp Half-Blood and check if Mr. B is still there?"
Harry glowered, stepping back to draw out his wand and aim it at the boy's throat. "Who the hell are you?!"
The smile flickered. He blinked and said, "Oh! I totally forgot you can't see me!"
"What are talking ab—"
"Hi," the boy said, his indescribable eyes gleaming. "I'm Sky."
Harry blanched.
They stared at each other in shock. Harry stepped back, unable to understand this. Why was Sky here? What was he doing? Why was he so mangled like he'd gotten into a fight with a bludger and then dropped into a pool?
But all he could say was "Sky?!"
Sky nodded. It was then Harry realised that he couldn't actually observe him.
This had happened at the party too, back in November. Holy hell, had it been an entire year? Sky had just dropped into Harry's life (gave him a hell of a snogging) and disappeared into the night like bloody Cinderella, except he didn't leave behind a boot or anything.
"You…" Harry's voice shook, rage filling his lungs. "What the hell is wrong with you?! You can't just crash into my life whenever you feel like it! You broke into my house! Are you a spy? Who do you work for?!"
Sky's hopeful grin faded. He looked surprised at the outburst.
"I thought you'd be…"
"What? Happy to see the person who broke into our secure gettogether after fooling all the safety measures we had in place?" Harry growled. "I'm ecstatic!"
Sky seemed to realise that he was in trouble. "I can explain! I swear, I didn't plan on doing anything! I just wanted to come see you."
"Me?"
"No, not you!" he fumbled. "I mean see all of you. All the campers and you guys. I've never met another demigod before that night and it was my only chance to get out of the house!"
Harry shook his head, wand dangerously sparking. "Is that supposed to be an excuse?"
"It's the truth! It's… can you put that away, it's making me nervous," Sky eyed the wand.
"No."
Sky gulped. "Okay. Okay, I'm sorry for breaking in. But I didn't mean any harm. I swear!"
"Why are you here now? Did you break in here as well?"
The silence that filled the room answered that question. Harry fumed and Sky gave a skittish smile. "Did I mention how that jacket really frames your shoulders?"
Harry made a face. "What?"
"It's a really good colour too," Sky said, eyes wide and pleading. "It's an amazing look!"
He didn't lower his wand, instead continued to silently glare at Sky. The flattery was nice, but he wasn't going to be swayed.
"... okay, that didn't work. But, look," Sky held out his hands. "I've been on the run for a few weeks. And the whole time, I've been getting these weird ass dreams. Like major obscure ones. But last night was bad. Something's happening in Olympus right now. We need to tell your camp's director to raise an alarm."
Harry wasn't impressed, but he didn't want to dismiss a claim of this magnitude. What if something really was happening in Olympus?
"You're in luck," he said, "Hermes is in the building, he'll be really interested to know about you breaking in."
He was about to step away when Sky had a look of panic and caught Harry's arm.
"Wait! Don't tell Mercury!"
"Get off!" Harry yelled, shooting a stunning spell out of instinct.
Sky dodged the red beam and flicked his arm, a long gold sword appearing seemingly out of nowhere. Harry had barely blinked when the sword flew at him, stabbing just to the side of his arm and embedding the blade into the wall behind him. It pinned the sleeve of his jacket, and by default, his right arm to the wall. His wand slipped out of his grip, falling over on a conveyor belt beside them.
"Hey!" Harry shouted. He didn't need his wand to do magic anyway. He used his other hand to shoot ropes out to tie Sky up, while at the same time, try and extricate the sword out of the wall, but it was solid and fixed there.
Sky backed up, whipped out another sword from… from his back. He had holsters on his back. He held it in both hands, slicing the ropes in mid air and throwing the sword at him again.
This one pinned the jacket sleeve of his left arm to the wall.
"Harry," Sky said, worried and breathless. "Please, please listen to me! I need your help. Bacchus was in camp when the lockdown happened. He's the best chance at helping us. The other gods are being made to stay away! Mercury won't help!"
Harry stared at him for a second before making his arms go lax enough to simply slip out of the sleeves of the jacket. He stepped free and Sky blinked.
"Oh," he said weakly.
Summoning his dagger, Harry first launched Expelliarmus at him to dislodge any other flying swords before throwing the blade at him. Sky yelped and threw his hands up, the dagger running through the meat of his forearm, sinking in heavily.
No… Harry wasn't aiming to kill him. But he was pretty pissed off.
"Shit!" Sky shouted, falling back against the stack of cotton boxes.
Harry advanced, holding out his arm for his wand to fly back to him. He pointed the tip at a fallen Sky, grabbed his collar and said, "That's payback for disappearing on me."
Sky gave a shaking laugh. "Guilty. Your arm's hot."
"Seriously, enough with the come-ons."
"No, no, your arm feels hot," Sky insisted. Harry peered down at his left fist which had grabbed Sky's jacket collar. The veins were standing out and the skin was turning red. It wasn't just warm from the adrenaline, it actually felt… physically hot.
In the next moment, the bracelet on his upper arm burned into his skin.
12th November, 2013
2:00 pm, Mount Olympus, New York City
Hestia's fireplace needed a pedestal.
Zeus's throne room needed a gold-and-platinum makeover.
Athena's reading room needed a new bookcase, at least four kilometers long.
Hades's throne needed firerocks at its base.
Aphrodite wanted a window between her temple and Ares's.
Hephaestus wanted to remove the window between his and Aphrodite's temples.
Ares wanted no windows, just more statues of bazookas.
And about a hundred minor gods and goddesses needed temples or at least statues of their own.
Rachel wondered how Annabeth didn't grow crazy after reading the list. Olympus renovations came with its own set of rules without having every deity pitch in specific changes.
The morning bled into the afternoon. Malcolm had been running between the temples, gathering updates on where construction had begun, and where things were still in pre-production. Annabeth usually signed off on what needs to go for building. Rachel didn't have the authority for it, so Malcolm had to take over there.
Rachel stayed behind at the quaint little desk in the foyer with Annabeth's silver laptop open before her. She had to run a keen eye on everything, to make sure all of the gods' wishes were noted on the blueprints. Once construction for a particular section began, Annabeth generally locked that blueprint file to avoid accidental changes to it.
Right now, Rachel opened a split-screen view so she and Bolt could check through different files and finish twice the work in the same amount of time.
"Look at this one," Bolt whispered. Rachel rubbed her eyes and focused on where Bolt was holding a paw up at the screen.
Hermes wanted wings on all of his shoes.
She stared. "That's not even part of Olympus renovation, why did he add that?"
Bolt shook her fluffy ears. "Search me. Besides, can't he just snap his fingers and create winged shoes?"
Ridiculous. Rachel and Bolt didn't dare change the wording in the requests. If the gods thought they were being disobedient, not even Apollo could save them.
Speaking of which, Rachel pointed to her side of the screen and said, "Apollo wants farming grounds beside the football arena so his cows can watch every game."
Bolt hummed. "The cows want to watch them toss the pigskin around?"
"I'm not even gonna pretend to understand," Rachel shook her head. "Let's leave that one to Malcolm."
She closed her file and finally looked down at the time. "Shoot! We missed lunch!"
"Is there a canteen here?" Bolt asked hopefully. Rachel wondered what kind of foods would be available for mortals.
"For us, I doubt it. I'll call Malcolm. We should head back to camp."
She sent a message off to him. Her stomach rumbled and she definitely did not want to put it off.
Bolt stretched her body and Rachel felt her muscles thank in return. She loved it when her familiar was so in tune to what she needed. Rachel wondered how far along the bond went and figured it was probably as good as the telepathic connection between Percy and Grover. Either way, she and Bolt were of one mind and it was wonderful to not be alone.
Malcolm hadn't messaged yet. Bolt said, "He'd be busy with Aphrodite's temple. Remember, he wanted to clear up the issue before Annabeth came back."
"Yeah," Rachel smiled. It was a nice thought, but nobody believed Aphrodite would be willing to concede that she was still married to Hephaestus and building a window to Ares's temple would be pure blasphemy.
"Maybe she knows that," Rachel mused. "And she's just winding us up."
"Yes, it's hilarious," Bolt sighed.
Annabeth locked the laptop away in the drawer of the reading table and stretched her legs. Olympus was oddly quiet as she walked from hall to hall, heading for Aphrodite's temple room.
Bolt was perched on her shoulder, sniffing the air. "Something's off."
"What is it?"
"I don't know."
Rachel frowned, slowing her pace. "Where is everyone?"
She was standing on one of the top floors, looking down over the balcony. It should have given her a sight of several deities milling about their day in the vast gardens of their homes. But the city of Olympus was strangely still, as though holding its breath for something.
The deadness of it all unnerved her.
"We need to leave," Bolt hissed.
"Not without Malcolm," Rachel insisted, taking out her phone and calling his number. Olympus was safe for phone activity and even had full range and connection, but the call didn't even go through now.
She reached into her pocket for her two-way mirror, before remembering that Malcolm didn't have one. Annabeth had taken it with her.
"Rachel, hide!" Bolt whispered. She turned around, almost expecting someone to be standing behind them, but there was no one. She really was alone.
"I'm here," Bolt said, soothing. "Look, Malcolm will be safe at the temples. Let's get out of here."
"Not without him," she repeated. Annabeth would never forgive her if she left her brother when something felt deeply wrong.
Rachel headed for the golden stairway and ran into someone.
She blinked, stumbling back up. This man was new. She'd never seen him before…
Wait.
Bolt growled, low and threatening, her hackles rising, she leaped from Rachel's shoulders to land heavily on the ground as a two hundred pound tiger of pure muscle and magic.
Her growl wasn't the thing that made Rachel's skin break out in goosebumps. The man standing in front of them regarding Bolt with a lazy eye before saying, "What a frosty greeting."
"You…" Rachel whispered, growing cold. "How did you break in?"
Ajax Furor laughed. "I was invited. You and your merry tiger look in good health."
Bolt gave another warning growl. Rachel could hardly move. She knew what the man was capable of. He set the gods uneasy, had Chiron grow silent, made Percy furious, and terrified the wits out of Harry. Rachel had no clue why he was here in Olympus. How could anyone have let him in?
Footsteps echoed behind her. Rachel turned to see more people, human, surrounding her and Bolt with various weapons pointed at her. There had to be at least six others in the room with them, blocking her exit. A host of swords, arrows, and guns were aimed at her and she started to panic.
Ajax stood facing Bolt, very bold, his body language alert and confident. He was tall with broad shoulders, towering over her with ease. She'd nearly forgotten his face, but remembered what he'd done to Percy in Rome. And what Sally had in turn done to him.
Sally had shot him in the head, a killing blow. And yet, here he was, standing in front of her, hale and hearty.
"Don't be afraid, Rachel," Ajax said, his angular face twisting into a dangerous grin. "Your parents have missed you. I'm just here to pick you up."
I wrote this within a week! Awesome of me.
Q: Who commanded the ancient spirit of Delphi before Apollo took over?
Stay tuned, folks! The story's picking up again.
Cabba.